Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, a control method therefor, and a storage medium, and in particular to an image pickup apparatus and a control method therefor which use a control technique of setting image quality as desired by a user when performing tone correction according to a luminance histogram of a taken image, as well as a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
With conventional image pickup apparatuses, when a shooting environment is foggy or misty, a taken image “hazes” to have low contrast and lack visibility. To solve this problem, a technique for improving a feeling of contrast by correcting tones of luminance levels according to characteristics of a luminance histogram of a taken image. For example, at least one coordinate through which a luminance correction curve for a low-tone range passes and at least one coordinate through which a luminance correction curve for a high-tone range passes are computed based on a luminance histogram of a taken image, and tones of luminance levels are corrected using a luminance correction curve obtained by connecting those coordinates together (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-098614).
The technique described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2006-098614, however, presents a problem because the degree of correction effect is uniquely determined from a luminance histogram of a taken image as shown in FIG. 8, and hence image quality is determined irrespective of whether or not a user is satisfied.